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The modern world port City of Long Beach and surrounding communities can trace their origins to a stately old adobe house located in Bixby Knolls at 4600 Virginia Road. Encompassed by the sprawling greenery of the Virginia Country Club, this spacious two-story structure sits upon a small hill just above the east bank of the Los Angeles River. This well-preserved historic house is known as "La Casa de Rancho los Cerritos", which translated means "The House of Little Hills Ranch".
This was the headquarters of the 27,000-acre Los Cerritos Rancho, of which the cities of Bellflower, Lakewood, Long Beach, Paramount and Signal Hill were later developed. Los Cerritos was carved from the much larger Rancho Los Nietos, which was granted by the King of Spain to an ordinary soldier named Manuel Nieto. John Temple, a Yankee merchant who came to California in 1827, purchased Los Cerritos from the Nieto heirs. It was Temple who built the adobe hacienda in 1844.
In 1866, Jotham Bixby, a native of Maine, acquired the ranch and the adobe from Temple. Later, Bixby played a big role in the birth of Long Beach. The Bixby family retained possession of the adobe until 1955, when the city of Long Beach leased the property. Today the Long Beach Public Library manages the building as a museum depicting rancho life from 1866 to 1885.
1872 photo courtesy of
Rancho Los Cerritos archives.
John Temple searched for a location to build his ranch house and found a desirable site upon a small knoll overlooking the river, which was a lot closer in those days. This stream provided convenient fresh water for his livestock and crops. The high ground offered protection from devastating floods when the unpredictable young river would swell beyond its banks. The hill also gave Temple a panoramic view of his widespread lands so that he could oversee the bustling activity of his ranching operations from his home.
Long before Temple even considered this homesite, the Gabrielino Indians found this particular area quite favorable as a dwelling place. About a half mile south of the Los Cerritos Adobe, a thriving rancheria (village) existed. Thatched huts made of "tules" and branches dotted the hill and riverbanks. The people of this village were probably attracted to this spot for many of the same attributes that Temple found so appealing.
This rancheria was known as Tibahangna. The meaning of the name is unclear, but loosely translated it may mean, "The Place in (or near) the Old Houses". The "Old Houses" reference may have come from the fact that the village was near the old Temple house and another older adobe structure which stood a short distance to the northwest of Temple's adobe. Gabrielino historian, Bernice Eastman Johnson speculated that Tibahangna occupied the site of an earlier ancient village, which had long been extinct. The inhabitants of Tibahangna may have lived in or near the "old houses" or homesites of their ancient ancestors.
During the 1930 restoration of the Los Cerritos Adobe an outstanding archeological discovery was made when the patio area was excavated. The recovered ancient artifacts provided evidence to support the theory of this long lost prehistoric settlement. The unusual items found were a set of flat circular stones with fluted edges resembling cog wheels. They had round holes in the centers, and the diameter of each stone differed in size. Nearly nothing is known about what purpose these stones served or the ancient people who made them. Baffled archaeologists theorized that these intriguing pieces were used in some sort of a game, rather than ingeniously as parts to some crude machine or tool. These interesting artifacts are displayed within the adobe near the spot they were found.
Like their predecessors, the village of Tibahangna disappeared into oblivion by the mid-1800s. Indians from this rancheria still survived in the vicinity in 1844, when they assisted in forming the sun-baked adobe bricks and raising the sturdy walls of Temple's home on the hill. Only a few archeological materials are all that remain to remind us of the people of Tibahangna.
In the latter part of the eighteenth century, Spanish colonies and Franciscan missions were being established throughout Alta California. These remote outposts were vulnerable to various hazards of the untamed frontier. Small garrisons of lance wielding soldiers provided the only protection. These centurions were called "Soldado de Cueras" or "Leather Jacket Soldiers", because they were clad in yellow leather sleeveless coats. Three of these loyal subjects serving the Spanish Crown for many years were greatly rewarded with immense land grants from the King of Spain. The trio were all uneducated men and each only achieved the rank of corporal after numerous years of military service. Yet, these common men received the very first land concessions in California. Juan Jose Dominguez was granted Rancho San Pedro (74,000 acres), Jose Maria Verdugo was the grantee of Rancho San Rafael (34,000 acres) and Jose Manuel Nieto was given the largest of the three; the 300,000 acre Rancho Los Nietos.
Nieto was a mulatto, born in Sinaloa, Mexico in 1719. He served in the Royal Army in the province of Alta California. Throughout his career he accumulated a substantial herd of cattle and horses. Nieto appealed to his Commandante, Pedro Fages, who was the military Governor of California, for a piece of land to graze his livestock. In 1784, Fages, on behalf of the Spanish government, granted Los Nietos to the aging corporal. This enormous grant, the largest ever in California, included nearly all the land between the Los Angeles and Santa Ana rivers. The northern boundary was the Camino Viejo or the "Old Road" from San Diego, which coursed along the base of Puente Hills to the San Gabriel Mission . From the Old Road, it extended southward to the sea. Padres from the San Gabriel Mission contested the Nietos grant on the grounds that it encroached upon the southern portion of their vast acreage. A decision in favor of the mission was reached and Rancho Los Nietos was reduced to nearly half of its original size, but still leaving Corporal Nieto with 167,000 acres. After retiring from the army, Nieto went to live on his great rancho.
Manuel Nieto built a simple adobe near the east bank of Rio San Gabriel about a half mile south of El Camino Viejo. He built corrals and farmed the land. His half-wild herds of black cattle roamed and thrived on the tall thick mustard stalks, which sprawled as far as the eye could see. In his remaining years, Don Nieto was considered the wealthiest man in California with his huge land holdings and abundant livestock. Nieto died on his beloved rancho in 1804 at the age of 85. His adobe still stood until it was washed away in a flood during the winter of 1860-61.
Nieto's children, Juan Jose, Manuela, Antonio Maria, and Jose Antonio inherited an undivided half interest in Rancho Los Nietos. The rancho remained intact until 1833, when the Nieto heirs petitioned Governor Jose Figueroa for a partition and distribution of the land. The following year, the great Los Nietos ranch was divided into six separate smaller ranchos: Santa Gertrudes (17,602 acres), Los Coyotes (48,806 acres), Las Bolsas (45,511 acres), Los Alamitos (28,027 acres), Palo Alto (acreage unknown), and Los Cerritos (27,054 acres). Don Manuel Nieto's oldest daughter, Manuela Nieto de Cota was given Rancho Los Cerritos. Juan Jose Nieto, Don Manuel's oldest son, received two adjoining ranchos Los Alamitos and Santa Gertrudes.
The boundary lines of Rancho Los Cerritos using modern streets as landmarks are described as follows:
Beginning at the shoreline and Alamitos Avenue in Long Beach, the western line of the rancho followed Alamitos Avenue north to Pacific Coast Highway. From here, a northeasterly line bisected Signal Hill to a point near Lakewood Boulevard and Spring Street. From here, a southeasterly line went to the Los Coyotes Diagonal at a point between Willow and Spring Streets, where it followed the Los Coyotes Diagonal in a northeast direction to the San Gabriel River. The line roughly followed the east bank of the river northward to Del Amo Boulevard in Lakewood. From here, the line took a jagged northwesterly course and paralleled Eberle Street, Carfax Avenue and Capetown Street to a spot near Oceana Avenue and Michelson Street. The boundary continued in a straight line due north to Artesia Boulevard, where it branched off in a northeasterly direction, becoming jagged and crisscrossed Woodruff Avenue at three different locations until it reached Rosecrans Avenue in Bellflower. From Woodruff and Rosecrans, the line cut back in a southwesterly direction to Liggett and Potter Streets. From this intersection a straight northwesterly line followed the same route as Gardendale Street through the cities of Downey, Paramount and South Gate, then on to the east side of the Los Angeles River. The boundary line continued south along the river and deviated west from the river near the present San Diego Freeway and Long Beach Freeway interchange. Continuing south in Long Beach, the boundary shadowed Harbor Street, the Union Pacific Railroad tracks, the Terminal Island Freeway and passed through the Texaco Refinery terminating at the Cerritos Channel.
This legacy of Don Manuel Nieto included over 27,000 empty acres, which eventually gave way to the development of six municipalities.
After her father's death, Dona Manuela continued to live at the family manor at Los Nietos with her husband, Guillermo Cota, and their children. Her cattle grew in number and her herds became too large to be accommodated by the family ranch. She and her husband made several appeals for Los Cerritos long before their grant was formally confirmed in 1834 by Governor Figueroa.
Guillermo Cota, like his father-in-law, was a soldier serving in Alta California. He was a native of Lariat, Mexico, born in 1768. Young Guillermo came to Alta California with his parents in 1778. He joined the Spanish Royal Army and became a sergeant assigned to the presidio (military establishment) at Santa Barbara. Later, he became involved in politics. From 1810 to 1817, he served as comisionado (town commissioner) of the pueblo of Los Angeles. Cota went on to serve additional terms as comisionado from 1822 to 1825, and in 1827, he became alcalde (mayor) of Los Angeles. He served as alcalde a second time in 1829.
Guillermo and Manuela had eleven children, five sons and six daughters. They built two adobe houses on Rancho Los Cerritos to accommodate their large family. These homes were located on low ground along the San Gabriel River approximately five miles north of the coast. Their first adobe was built in 1833, and their second was constructed in 1835. Members of the Cota family lived in the second adobe well into the time that Temple acquired Los Cerritos. The structures were eventually abandoned and fell into a state of decay. Wild animals adopted the second house as a shelter and it became flea infested. This "Flea House", as it came to be known, eroded away over the years and disappeared. The site of the Flea House is located a short distance northwest of the Temple house where the eleventh fairway of the Virginia Country Club now exists.
Dona Manuela's two older daughters married two heirs of Juan Jose Dominguez, the original grantee of the adjacent Rancho San Pedro. Maria Engracia de Cota married Don Manuel Dominguez and lived in the spacious adobe hacienda, which still stands off of Alameda Street in the city of Compton. Maria de Jesus Cota became the wife of Pedro Dominguez, Don Manuel's brother. Their home on Rancho San Pedro was located within the present city limits of Carson. Today, Dominguez decedents still own substantial amounts of valuable real estate in Carson and neighboring Wilmington.
Dona Manuela died in 1837, leaving Guillermo as executor of her estate. In accordance to his wife's wishes, he ensured that Rancho Los Cerritos was equally divided among her eleven children. The Cotas kept the rancho for six years until it was sold to the American John Temple.
John (Juan) Temple was born in Reading, Massachusetts in 1796. As a young man he became a sailor serving on various trading vessels. He came to the west coast on the brig Waverly, via the Sandwich Islands (now Hawaii). Arriving in Monterey in 1826, he decided to stay foreseeing the great economical potential for himself in primitive California. Soon after his arrival, Temple became a Mexican citizen. To accomplish this, he had to be converted into the Catholic faith. Therefore, on July 29, 1827 he was baptized in San Diego and thereafter became known as Juan Temple. However, to his English-speaking friends and associates he was referred to as John Temple.
The following year, Temple went into business with fellow transplanted Yankee, George Rice. Together they opened the first general merchandise store in the pueblo of Los Angeles. This store was located on the southern section of this sleepy town on the north side of what became Temple Street at its convergence with Spring Street . Cow hides and tallow supplied by local rancheros were stored here and later traded for goods from New England. He operated a successful business with Rice for four years. From 1832 to 1841, Temple was the sole proprietor of the store. Temple's younger brother, F.P.F. Temple, came from Reading in 1841 and worked at the store.
In 1830, Juan Temple married Rafaela Cota, a Spanish belle from a prominent Santa Barbara family. Rafaela was a second cousin to Guillermo Cota of Los Cerritos. Francesca, the Temples' only child, was born in 1831. Francesca Temple was baptized at the old plaza church on Main Street in Los Angeles.
During the tumultuous 1830s, turmoil and revolution were common in Southern California. Juan Temple decided to focus on business matters rather than get involved risky game of local politics. However, he became involved in civic affairs in 1836, when the first vigilance committee formed at his town house in the pueblo. The outraged vigilante group, comprised of fifty of the pueblo's leading men, met after a man was murdered by his wife's lover. The murderer and the victim's wife fled into the countryside. The two were captured and jailed. Later, the vigilantes broke into the jail and lynched the diabolical pair.
After several years of building a lucrative trading business, Temple saw an opportunity to become his own supplier rather than a broker. He chose to become a ranchero, raising his own cattle. On December 1, 1843, Temple purchased the Rancho Los Cerritos from the heirs of Dona Manuela Cota. He paid $3,025 for 27,000 acres and for the use of the family's branding iron. Half of the purchase price was paid in silver coin, while the remaining half was compensated in merchandise. Soon after his acquisition of the rancho, Temple began construction of his Monterey style, Spanish colonial adobe on top of the bluff overlooking the Los Angeles River.
Temple employed local Indians to do all the physical labor involved in the building of his hacienda. They manufactured sun-baked adobe bricks made from the very earth surrounding the homesite. Red bricks, fired in kilns in New England, were brought by ship around the Horn and used to lay the foundation of the house. These bricks were also used as flooring for the two, long verandas on the south side of the house. The central section of the house was 100 feet long and had two stories, typical of the Monterey style. The adobe walls of the first level were three feet thick and the walls on the second floor were two feet in width. Upper and lower verandas extended the full length of this central section. At each end of the center structure, single story wings, each 160 feet in length, extended out toward the river. The wings were connected at the north end by a high adobe wall with a gateway in the middle. This enclosed rear courtyard was a common characteristic of the early Spanish mission construction. The wooden gate was kept open during the day and served as a main entrance. It was secured at night as a precaution against disgruntled Indian laborers or roving bandits. Additional security features included; exterior iron bars on ground level windows and small holes bored completely through dense adobe walls that allowed rifles to be fired from inside the house while providing excellent cover for the shooter.
Redwood beams were shipped from Monterey to build the roof. The beams were used to support redwood planks. A layer of gravel was spread on top of the planks. The melted brea (tar), collected from La Brea Pits near Los Angeles, was used to seal the roof. Later, this roof was replace by a roof of clay tiles. The exterior adobe walls were whitewashed. Door and window frames along with the wood balusters on the upper veranda were painted a soft green. The veranda overlooked an exquisite Italian garden, a portion of which still remains today. The two-acre garden was enclosed by a redwood fence. Leftover bricks used in the foundation and balconies were used to section off the garden and create walkways. Here, Temple planted Italian Cypress trees, black locusts, and pomegranates. Later, additional bricks were used to line a sixty-foot deep artesian well, which was drilled on the property by Temple. The well was six foot in diameter and a large brick cistern was also built.
At this country estate, the Temples hosted grand fandangos and "La Jota" dances, which were all night affairs. Wine and brandy flowed freely at these events and there was always plenty to eat. Periodically, bullfights were held in the rear courtyard. Temple kept a fine stable of horses, which he often raced against the horses of neighboring ranchero, Abel Stearns. Many spectators from all over came to witness and wager on these exciting contests. The races usually started at the base of Signal Hill. Vaqueros (cowboys) rode rapid steeds southward to the beach along the boundary line of Los Cerritos and Stearns' Rancho Los Alamitos. From the shore, the riders would gallop back (along today's Los Alamitos Avenue) to the commencement point, covering a distance of four miles.
From La Casa de Los Cerritos, Don Juan Temple operated a lucrative cattle trade. His herds increased by thousands. To more easily facilitate the hide and tallow trade among local rancheros, Temple acquired an adobe warehouse on the waterfront of San Pedro Harbor. He purchased the fifty-foot by twenty-foot adobe hide house with David Alexander, a native of Ireland who arrived in California in the early 1840s. Abel Stearns was the previous owner the structure, known as Casa de San Pedro. The purchase included 100 square varas (roughly 1.77 acres) of land upon Rancho Palos Verdes. Temple and Alexander received U.S. Patent on this property in 1907 many years after the deaths of both men. The adobe was built in 1823 for the private firm of McCulloch and Hartnell. In 1829, Mission padres from San Gabriel acquired the building and used to store hides. At this site, Temple and Alexander operated the first overland shipping business between San Pedro and the Pueblo of Los Angeles. They used carts driven by oxen to transport supplies. The business partners sold this property in 1852 to Phineas Banning of Wilmington.
In 1845, Temple purchased Mission La Purisima Concepcion and surrounding acreage for $1,100. This property increased in value to $16,000 in 1846. Governor Pio Pico sold many of the missions in California to finance the defense effort against the United States during the impending Mexican-American War.
Temple took a neutral position when the Mexican-American War broke out. Many former Yankees supported an American take-over. In August 1846, United States forces led by Commodore Robert F. Stockton landed at San Pedro and marched to Los Angeles seizing the pueblo without firing a shot.
Stockton left Lieutenant Archibald Gillespie in charge of a garrison of fifty men to hold the town. The Commodore appointed Temple mayor of Los Angeles before his departure to Northern California.
Gillespie's governing methods upset the Angelenos prompting them to revolt. Californios surrounded the small garrison and demanded that Gillespie surrender. At the onset of the siege, Juan Temple retreated with his wife and daughter to Rancho Los Cerritos to wait out the standoff. Temple figured that the distance between his ranch house and the tense activities occurring the pueblo was adequate to safeguard his family. Ironically, the Casa Los Cerritos was to become an important setting during the conflict in Southern California.
On September 23, 1846, Californios captured twenty Americans at Rancho Chino who were assigned to guard the San Bernardino area. Former American, Benjamin Davis Wilson was the leader of the American party at Chino. The Californios marched Wilson's troops to casa de Rancho Los Cerritos where they were kept as prisoners. They were treated more like guests rather than prisoners of war. Like Temple, Wilson and his men were married to Mexican women and were related by marriage to many of the Californio insurgents. The primary concern of the rebels was the protection of their American relatives.
Meanwhile, Gillespie was forced to surrender to San Pedro where they boarded the U.S. Vandalia and waited for reinforcements from Stockton. The Commodore sent Captain William Mervine, who arrived on October 7th. The combined forces of Mervine and Gillespie marched north to retake the pueblo. The following day they engaged the Californio forces led by Captain Jose Antonio Carrillo. The Battle of Dominguez was the result of this meeting and was fought on the plains of Rancho San Pedro, owned by Don Manuel Dominguez. Captain Carrillo commandeered La Casa de Rancho Los Cerritos as his headquarters in early October to closely monitor the Americans' activities. When the Americans advanced, Carrillo was ready. Carrillo's men inflicted substantial casualties causing the Americans to retreat to their ships. Mervine and Gillespie awaited the arrival of Stockton. In the meantime, Carrillo remained at Los Cerritos using the house as his headquarters.
On October 23, Stockton landed with reinforcements. When Carrillo observed a great number of invaders, he planned a brilliant scheme to thwart an inevitable advance by the American troops. Carrillo had several young men and boys gather hundreds of horses from Temple's ranch and neighboring ranchos. The horses were stampeded in a circular movement between a gap in the hills creating a huge cloud of dust. From Stockton's ship, anchored a few miles away in San Pedro it appeared that a massive 800-man calvary was thundering toward them. Fearing that he was greatly outnumbered, the Commodore weighed anchor and set sail for San Diego. Unbeknownst to Stockton, most of the horses had no riders.
It was not until January 7, 1847 that Stockton returned to reclaim Los Angeles with the help of General Stephen W. Kearny and his First Dragoon of the U.S. Army. The Treaty of Cahuenga signed on January 10, 1847 ended California's involvement in the Mexican War. California was annexed to the United States in 1850.
In 1848, Juan Temple's daughter, Francesca, married Georgio Ajura. Ajura, was a Basque from Spain. The wedding took place at the old plaza church on Main Street in Los Angeles.
In 1849, the Pueblo of Los Angeles borrowed $3,000 from Juan Temple to pay for the surveyance of town conducted by Lieutenant Edward O.C. Ord. All land titles within the city are based upon this original map.
In March 1849, Pedro Dominguez, one of the co-owners of Rancho San Pedro, also borrowed money from Juan Temple. Dominguez was an avid gambler and often bet on horse races. He borrowed $2,000 in silver coin from Temple to help pay his debts. Later that month, he borrowed an additional $1,500 from Temple at 100 percent interest. Dominguez put up half of his 8,000-acre share of Rancho San Pedro as collateral. By February 9, 1850, Dominguez was unable to repay the loan and lost half of his land to Temple. This 4,000-acre tract that Temple acquired was situated just north of Dominguez Hill and stretched eastward adjoining his Rancho Los Cerritos. Years later (1867), this property became part of the city of Compton.
In 1851, Juan Temple began construction of Temple Block, a two-story adobe business center within the pueblo. It was located south of Temple Street between Spring and Main Streets. The building was expanded in 1858 with the addition of the south wing. Later, this structure gave away for the more modern three story brick building known as Baker Block. This too was replaced by the present-day Los Angeles City Hall building in 1921.
In 1852, Temple was considered the wealthiest man in all of Los Angeles County. His total assets including 20,000 acres of ranch land and livestock were valued at $108,000. That year he paid the highest amount of taxes in the county, a sum of $912. By this time, he amassed over 15,000 head of cattle, 3,000 horses, and 7,000 sheep.
On September 21, 1852, Temple presented his claim for Rancho Los Cerritos before the United States Land Commission, where he like other rancheros had to prove ownership of his land. The Land Commission confirmed Temple's title to Los Cerritos on April 11, 1853. The United States Government challenged Temple's claim a second time on September 11, 1854. Temple presented several copies of Spanish and Mexican official documents as evidence. He provided numerous witnesses who testified on his behalf including friendly rival, Abel Stearns and eleven heirs of the Cota family. Again he proved his case and the matter was settled in his favor on July 12, 1856.
The early to mid 1850s was a lucrative period for Temple. He ventured several times to Mexico where he accumulated a great deal of land between Acapulco and Mazatlan. At this time, Temple acquired the lease to the Mexican Mint. Temple, along with his son-in-law, Georgio Ajura, made quite a profit operating the Mint, making money for the government of Mexico, which was then controlled by Maximillian. However, the latter part of the decade brought a cycle of floods and droughts, which proved devastating to the cattle industry in California. Although Temple still fared better than most rancheros he sustained some losses. In 1858 he was assessed at a significantly lower amount as compared to 1852. He was assessed at $90,000 which made him the second richest man in Los Angeles County. Abel Stearns succeeded Temple as the wealthiest in the county: his assets were valued at $186,000 in 1858.
The Bixbys and their cousins the Flints were originally from Somerset County, Maine. Benjamin Flint was the first of the two families to come to California in 1849 during the Gold Rush. In 1851, Benjamin's brother, Dr. Thomas Flint also came to California to prospect for gold and was accompanied by Llewellyn Bixby. The two cousins traveled by steamer to the Isthmus at Panama. From the Isthmus, they boarded the S.S. Northerner and arrived in San Francisco in July. They joined Benjamin in a mining venture in the town of Volcano, near Sutter's Mill in Sacramento.
Young Jotham Bixby and his older brother, Marcellus, were the next family members to travel to the West Coast with gold fever. Jotham and Marcellus were brothers of Llewellyn Bixby. They left their home in Norridgewock, Maine and traveled around the Horn on the steamer Samuel Appleton. They arrived in San Francisco in 1852 and started out as miners. The Flints and Bixbys pooled their resources by saving a few thousand dollars and purchased a small mountain farm. Here they raised cattle, grew barley, and supplied the mining camps with beef, produce, and various mining services.
The business partners decided to invest their earnings in sheep. They planned to purchase a large flock in the Mid-West. On Christmas Day 1852, the two Flints and the three Bixby brothers returned to New England on the S.S. Northerner. They arrived in New York twenty-seven days later, and took the opportunity to visit family in Maine before continuing on to Illinois. In March of 1853, the cousins organized the firm of Flint, Bixby & Company at the Prairie House in Terre Haute, Indiana. In April, they arrived in Quincy, Illinois and began acquiring up to 1,800 head of sheep. The sheep were taken to Warsaw, Illinois where they were sheared, yielding over 6,400 pounds of wool. The wool was sold for $1,570 to a firm in Keokuk, Iowa.
The monumental task of driving the sheep to California began on May 7, 1853 as they left Keokuk with 1800 sheep, eleven oxen, two cows, four horses and two wagons. The party forged over the dusty plains and the treacherous Rocky Mountains to Salt Lake City, Utah, where they arrived in September. Here they increased their flock to 2,400. From Salt Lake City they followed along the Fremont Trail westward. Along the way they met up with another overland party lead by Colonel John H. Hollister. The Flints and Bixbys joined the Hollister party and accompanied them through the desert to California. On December 30th, the combined teams reached the Cajon Pass, and on New Years Day 1854, they arrived at the Mormon Colony at San Bernardino.
The two parties spent the winter months at Rancho San Pascual near today's City of Pasadena. They leased land from the Verdugo family and allowed their flocks to roam the terrain. These were the first American sheep brought into the state. In the Spring, the herds were driven north to Rancho Santa Teresa near San Jose. The Flints, Bixbys, and Hollister leased the rancho for fourteen months. In the summer of 1855 the three families bought the 55,000-acre Rancho San Justo east of San Juan Bautista.
This was the main headquarters for the Flints and Bixbys for over forty years. The nearby town of Hollister was named for Colonel Hollister.
The sheep business proved to be a better investment than cattle however, cattle was more prevalent in California at that time. Sheep withstood the extreme cycles of floods and drought better than cattle. Flint, Bixby, and Company made handsome profits selling wool to the eastern states. Wool increased in demand when the cotton market became stifled by the outbreak of the Civil War, which wreaked havoc on the plantations in the cotton producing Confederate States. The Flints and Bixbys wanted to expand their operations to Southern California where the cattle trade was approaching its doom. The expansion took place with the purchase of Rancho Los Cerritos in 1866. The bargain price paid for Los Cerritos, which included the adobe hacienda built by Juan Temple, was $20,000. Not long after the acquisition, Jotham Bixby assumed the role as ranch manager for the firm and moved into the old Temple house with his wife, Margaret Hathaway Bixby, and their children.
Immediately, Jotham began to improve the conditions of the adobe and surrounding property. In order to counter the effects of drought and the changing course of the Los Angeles River, which by this time was diverted farther westward from the house, he sank ten artesian wells. A windmill was constructed to pump water to the house and gardens. Upon the house, Bixby replaced the decrepit tar roof with a modern, American style, wood shingled roof. Mrs. Bixby brought two Yankee made cast iron stoves to the casa and hired Chinese cooks to prepare the family meals.
In 1869, Jotham acquired a half interest in Los Cerritos for $10,000 and created the new firm of J. Bixby and Company. His sheep business thrived and at one time over 30,000 head roamed the hillsides and pastures of his rancho. Bixby enriched his flocks by cross breeding his American stock with Spanish Merinos. The droughts of 1872 and 1876-77 killed many sheep, yet Bixby still sent an annual average of 200,000 pounds of wool to market at San Francisco.
In 1870, young John Bixby, Jotham's cousin, came to live at the rancho and helped with ranching operations. John was a schoolteacher in Maine. Three years later, John Bixby married Susan Hathaway, the sister of Margaret Hathaway Bixby. The Hathaways, like the Bixbys, were also from Somerset County, Maine. Five Hathaway sisters were married to Bixby men.
After a few years working on Los Cerritos, John wanted to try ranching on his own. In 1878, he leased the adjacent Rancho Los Alamitos from Michael Reese, who bought the rancho in 1866 from Abel Stearns. He and his family lived at the old adobe just off of today's Bixby Road near the University of California at Long Beach. Four years later, Bixby purchased Los Alamitos from Reese for $125,000. He owned an undivided one-third interest while co-investors Jotham Bixby and Issiah W. Hellman owned the remaining two-thirds.
In 1880, Jotham Bixby sold 4,000 acres of Rancho Los Cerritos, near the beach, to an Englishman by the name of William E. Willmore. It was Willmore's intention to use the land to develop a farming community and sell lots to families for $25 an acre. This project was originally known as the American Colony, but the name was later changed to Willmore City. Auctions for five, ten, and twenty-acre lots began in October 1882. Sales were steady at first, but the enterprise never took off. By May 1885, Willmore was unable to make the agreed payments to Jotham Bixby and was forced to abandon the venture and retired to Arizona.
An organization known as the Long Beach Land and Water Company took an interest in the waterfront property forfeited by Willmore and paid Jotham Bixby $240,000 for the defunct Colony. The company also compensated Willmore with $8,000 for the water and sewage system he installed prior to his departure. The name of the new settlement was changed to Long Beach in 1885. Slowly, the town grew and developed. By 1887, over 800 acres were still unsold. A group with ties to the Southern Pacific Railroad formed the Long Beach Development Company, which purchased the remaining lots. The combined subdivisions incorporated into the city of Long Beach on February 10, 1888.
In 1881, Jotham Bixby moved from the adobe ranch house at Los Cerritos to a fine Victorian mansion on the southwest corner of 2nd and Fort (now Broadway) Streets in Los Angeles. Bixby bought the large town house from Judge H.K.S. O'Melveny for $4,500. O'Melveny built the house in the 1850s. The Bixbys lived here for five years.
Jotham Bixby started buying land on the Palos Verdes Peninsula in the 1870s. On September 25, 1882, Jotham acquired over 17,000 acres of Rancho Los Palos Verdes, which was half of the original land grant given to Jose Delores Sepulveda. This land was awarded to Bixby as a result of a Superior Court Decree order ordering the foreclosure of the property owned by the Sepulveda heirs. Bixby used the rolling hills of this acreage to graze his cattle.
It was 1885, when Jotham and his family returned to Los Cerritos to reside in a newly completed frame house on Magnolia Avenue at Ocean Boulevard, overlooking the sea at Long Beach. In the meantime, the old adobe hacienda remained vacant for over a quarter of a century, with the exception of an occasional caretaker. The structure became neglected and decayed.
George Bixby, Jotham's oldest son, constructed his own family home in 1890, on a piece of property, which became known as the Los Cerritos Tract. This house, which still stands, was built facing American Avenue (now Long Beach Boulevard) between Bixby Road and Roosevelt Road. Four years later, George took control of his father's Palos Verdes interests. He hired a man named Harry Phillips to manage the ranch and raised sheep there.
During the 1890s, Jotham Bixby became more involved in civic affairs of Long Beach. In 1895, he became president of the of the First Bank of Long Beach and would earn the title of "Father of Long Beach. Bixby Road, and the Long Beach neighborhood of Bixby Knolls, are named for this early pioneer. It was also during this time that he began selling portions of his large rancho where other communities quickly sprouted.
One of the first subdivisions of Los Cerritos was in the northeastern section of the ranch near the Downey Colony. This parcel was called Somerset Ranch and was used as a dairy farm. This later became the town of Clearwater, which today is known as the City of Paramount.
In 1897, Bixby sold 8,139 acres of the eastern part of the rancho for $408,000 to Senator William Andrew Clark from Montana. He obtained great wealth in the copper mining industry in Montana and was the builder of the San Pedro, Los Angeles and Salt Lake Railroad. The senator named his property Montana Ranch after his home state. Here he cultivated sugar beets, which were processed at his sugar factory where the city of Los Alamitos developed. Montana Ranch became the town of Lakewood. Clark Avenue in Lakewood is named for the senator.
In 1913, George Bixby sold 16,000 acres of Jotham's Rancho Palos Verdes holdings to New York financier, Frank A. Vanderlip. George kept 1,000 acres for himself, which subsequently evolved into Harbor City. Vanderlip was president of the National City Bank in New York City. He purchased the Palos Verdes land and formed a syndicate for the purpose of developing large mansion estates. Vanderlip built his home near the southern part of the peninsula in 1916. The modern cities of Rancho Palos Verdes and Palos Verdes Estates, containing some of the most valuable real estate in the United States, were the results of Vanderlip's project.
Jotham Bixby, the Father of Long Beach, died in 1916. At the time of his death, there were 3,500 acres of the original Rancho Los Cerritos, which remained intact. This was later divided into six smaller ranches, which were managed by George Bixby. The ranches eventually gave way to the Long Beach neighborhoods of Bixby Knolls, California Heights, North Long Beach and part of the city of Signal Hill.
Following the subdivision, the Los Cerritos adobe was leased to William Bolye, who used it as a dairy. Boyle was a tenant for ten years. After Boyle left, the aging structure was rented out to several families who engaged in farming and working at local ranches.
In 1929, Llewellyn Bixby Jr., Jotham's nephew, bought the adobe and five surrounding acres from the Jotham Bixby Company and began to completely renovate the ailing building. Llewellyn Jr., the son of Llewellyn Bixby Sr., was one of the partners of Flint, Bixby, and Company. The refurbishment project of the family casa, supervised by Llewellyn, was completed by 1931. The old adobe house was restored to its original 1840s appearance. There were a few significant changes to the structure. One was the replacement of the shake roof with the present clay tiled roof. Another was the addition of exterior porches. A sun porch on the west side was also added during this period. Interior changes included the enlargement and transformation of the parlor to the present two-story living room. The library was also made larger. Electricity, fireplaces, a furnace, and other modern conveniences were installed updating the living standards of the archaic house.
Bixby resurrected and improved the Italian gardens first planted by Don Juan Temple. The walkways and landscaping in the rear courtyard were also added at the time. The prior courtyard had always been bare. It was during this restoration in 1930, when the mysterious stone cog wheels of an ancient people were discovered during the excavation of the patio area within the courtyard.
Llewellyn Jr. and his wife, Avis Smith Bixby, moved into the beautifully restored relic. Llewellyn lived here until his death in 1942. Avis Bixby remained in the old casa until 1954. On December 28, 1954, the Long Beach City Council voted to lease the adobe and remaining grounds with the option to buy the property for $80,000 by October 1955. On January 18, 1955 the City of Long Beach received the lease and a month and a half later the Long Beach Public Library assumed the management of the house and grounds.
Photos: LAOkay.com
Today, La Casa de Rancho los Cerritos is a museum and a historical research library open to the public. The exterior of the adobe is typical of the two-story Monterey-style, as it may have looked in the 1840s when the Temples occupied the dwelling. A tour of the gardens is must for the avid horticulturist. The serene grounds are secluded from the hustle and bustle of the modern metropolis of Long Beach. Spanish style corredores (porches) and numerous trees provide ample shade on a hot Southern California day. A casual stroll through the long green house is a pleasurable experience. On the grounds, there is an elevated wooden water tower and an iron caldron, which sits on a brick base. The caldron was used to boil cattle fat to produce tallow for candles and soap.
Photo by Eliza Boné
The rear courtyard has a brick covered patio with a sundial as a centerpiece. Beyond the patio, the courtyard is mostly lush green lawn with cement walkways. Palm trees are scattered throughout the enclosed area and a rectangular pond is near the base of the raised patio. From the courtyard, one can explore the rooms of the south wing of the house. Most of these exhibit rooms have dirt floors, which were common in adobe homes up until the late 1880s. Rooms in the north wing were used as servant's quarters, but now they serve as storage space and the caretaker's residence.
Inside the main house, the large parlor is decorated as it may have been during the time Jotham and Margaret Bixby lived at the adobe. Their portraits and the paintings of Juan and Rafaela are displayed on the walls. The fireplaces and the present floors were put in by Llewellyn Bixby Jr. in 1930. The dining room was enlarged by removing an adjoining bedroom wall during the 1930 restoration. The redwood ceiling beams are thought to be the original ones from the Temple era. Upstairs includes a master bedroom and the ranch office. Mannequins and dolls in nineteenth century costumes pose throughout the house to give visitors an excellent example of family life in that period.
The library was formed when a wall separating a storage room and the office was removed. Over 2,500 books about California and local history are contained here. Also, many rare historical maps, photographs and other written materials are available to the public for research purposes. This is a reference library, so materials are not to be checked out.
The Rancho Los Cerritos Adobe Museum and Library is open to the public.
Rancho Los Cerritos Official Website
4600 Virginia Road, Long Beach, CA 90807
Map
562 570-1755
Open the the public
Wednesday through Sunday from 1 to 5 p.m., except on major holidays.
Historic Adobes of Los Angeles County © 1997 John R. Kielbasa
Unless otherwise noted, photos © 2001-2004 LAokay.com